Open Innovation for Development in China

Abstract

Open innovation shows a new direction for Chinese enterprises to innovate indigenously. Chinese enterprises actively adopt an open innovation model, make full use of external innovation resources, and integrate internal and external resources to promote innovation. This chapter describes the conditions of openness in the process of innovation in Chinese enterprises. Based on the conditions of openness, this chapter elaborates modes for the organization of open innovation in Chinese enterprises, including users being involved in innovation, suppliers participating in innovation, collaborations with firms in other industries and competitors, cooperation with universities and research institutes, intellectual property licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and setup of overseas research and development (R&D) branches. For each mode, this chapter introduces a corresponding case of open innovation practice in enterprise in China. Open innovation provides access to more ideas than could be developed in-house. With an open vision to integrate global innovation resources, Chinese firms’ innovation capability has been greatly enhanced.